CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This thesis presents a study of the effect of reading online newspapers as an
authentic reading material toward students’ vocabulary acquisition incidentally,
especially on the third semester English education major students’ incidental
acquisition of unknown vocabulary while they read online newspapers. This
chapter covers background of the study, problems of the study, objectives of the
study, significances of the study, variables of the study, hypotheses of the study,
operational definition of key terms, scope and limitation of the study, and
framework of the discussion.
A. Background of The Study
Vocabulary is a central of the language, without any vocabulary nothing
can be understood. According to Wilkins puts that without grammar very
little can be conveyed, but without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed1.
Also vocabulary is an important factor that can determine the goodness of
language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Vocabulary has
been a neglected area for a long time, even though it is essential for the
mastery of language. Rivers has also argued that the acquisition of adequate
vocabulary is essential for successful second language use because without an
extensive vocabulary, we will not be able to use the structures and functions
we may have learned for comprehensible communication.2 According to
1
Scott Thornbury. How To Teach Vocabulary. (England: Pearson longman, 2007). p. 13. 2 Fateme Moradian Fard and Samira Atefi Boroujeni. “Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition via Reading for Pleasure”. (Iran:IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science. Vol. 11,
Zimmerman, Vocabulary is central to language. Furthermore, it is crucially
important to the language learner. And Grabe state that in terms of reading
process, vocabulary knowledge is the general component knowledge in the
process, and has been recognized as a critical feature of reading ability.3 So,
vocabulary is one of crucial element which has to mastery by language
learners and they cannot comprehend what their read if they have no
vocabulary. Because of that, the one way which English learners do is they
have to learn how to acquired vocabulary.
In the field of vocabulary acquisition, according to Hasbun stated that
reading is a strategy recommended for the learning of vocabulary. Reading is
a main source of input for learners in the foreign language classroom.4 So,
reading is necessary for our study and our life. It can open our knowledge
about everything we want. Absolutely, from reading we can improve our
ability. Allah in his Koran also asked to His adherent that they should
reading. It has written in the first surah of Koran that is Al-Alaq in verse 1-5:
Meaning:
1. Read! In the name of God who created.
2. He already created the human from a lump of blood. 3. Read, and Thy God who Merciful,
Issue 5, May-June, 2013). p. 69. ( http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/vol11-issue5/L01156973.pdf) accessed on December 14th, 2015, 5:26
3
Wilaiwan Lebkatem. “Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through Newspaper Reading: The impact of Content Familiarity”. (Thesis to Prince of Songkla University, 2012). p. 1
(http://kb.psu.ac.th/psukb/bitstream/2010/9278/1/361989.pdf ) accessed on December 14th, 2015, 5:25
4
4. Who taught (human) with intermediate Kalam. 5. He taught them what they did not know.
Based on the surah above, Allah has ordered us to read. He said that he
already taught (human) what they did know before. So, it is way to increase
their knowledge and ability. Although, there are some of human still lack of
their reading for many reasons. For example, some students do not realized
that they get new vocabulary when they read a book or others English
material. After they read book they got nothing or nothing happen except a
bit comprehension but this is really central because when the students read a
book there are a lots of vocabulary provided inside the book or text that they
can get. As many books you read many vocabulary you get. Thus, reading has
some role in our way to learn anything.
The role of reading, according to Day and Bamford, is that reading can
develop not only a large sight vocabulary, but also a general vocabulary
knowledge and knowledge of the target language, the world and types texts.5
So, by reading, people can develop their knowledge or ability whether it by
conscious or unconscious processes.
According to Richards and Rodgers, acquisition is an “unconscious
process that involves the naturalistic development of language proficiency
through understanding language and through language for meaningful
communication”.6
The acquisition in this study involves vocabulary in
5
Wilaiwan Lebkatem. ibid. p.2
reading activity. Nagy et al. stated that the acquisition of vocabulary while
learners are engaged in this activity is usually referred to as incidental
learning.7
Based on the researcher’s experience in reading class, students encounter
new vocabulary in the reading material which given by lecturer. The lecturer
gave the students text from her textbooks and asked them to found out the
information which she wants the students found. She not gave the instruction
to them to found out the new vocabulary, but naturally, the students encounter
new vocabulary inside the text which given by her. Normally, to comprehend
the text, the students guessed the new word in each sentences. But, any some
of the students did not guessing it and only focused on the information which
asked by lecturer without attention its vocabulary. Beside that, the students
seem bored and uninterested to read it. So, to attract and help students to learn
English is, by using authentic material such as newspaper, magazine or others
authentic materials to improve their vocabulary acquisition incidentally.
Afterwards, many researchers have agreed that the English newspaper has a
variety of subject matter compared to textbook. This is because they reflect
events of life in the world and this makes them real to students which
textbooks are not.8
(http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ije/article/viewFile/5254/4418) accessed on March 4th, 2016, 18:00
7
Wilaiwan Lebkatem. op. cit. p. 9
8
Juhari Sham bin Jusoh. 2016.
English-language newspapers are becoming increasingly available
throughout the world, and today, more than eighty non-English-speaking
countries produce at least one English-language newspaper.9 Any some of
ways to obtain newspapers easily, one of them is from internet. Through the
internet, we are now able to access thousands of newspapers worldwide, and
this figure is increasing daily.10 Based on the explanation above, the
researcher will use online newspaper as an authentic reading material in the
classroom.
According to the facts above, it is commonly accepted that reading is one
of major sources of vocabulary learning. Words can be acquired incidentally
through reading. Then, reading authentic material such as newspapers or
magazine can improve the students’ vocabulary acquisition, so the researcher
interest to present the study entitled:
“INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH
READING ONLINE NEWSPAPERS BY THE THIRD SEMESTER
STUDENTS AT THE ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF
IAIN PALANGKA RAYA”
B. Problems of The Study
The main problems of the study as follows:
9
Paul Sanderson. 1999. Using Newspapers in the Classroom. Cambridge University press: New York. p. 5
10
1. Is there any significant effect of reading online newspapers toward
students’ vocabulary acquisition incidentally by the third semester students
at the English education study program of IAIN Palangka Raya?
2. What are the third semester students’ attitudes at the English education
study program of IAIN Palangka Raya towards learning words incidentally
to acquire vocabulary through reading English texts and online
newspapers?
C. Objectives of The Study
The objectives of this study are:
1. To measure the effect of reading online newspapers toward students’
vocabulary acquisition incidentally by the third semester students at the
English education study program of IAIN Palangka Raya.
2. To describe the third semester students’ attitudes at the English education
study program of IAIN Palangka Raya towards learning words incidentally
to acquire vocabulary through reading English texts and online
newspapers.
D. Significances of The Study
The study has two significances namely theoretical significance and
practical significance. Theoretical significance of this study especially for the
researcher is to provide more evidence and clarity of incidental vocabulary
Practical significance of this study is the result of this study can give
contribution to the teachers or lecturers, students and future researchers in
learning. In order to convince the lecturers and students which vocabulary can
acquire incidentally through reading online newspaper. So, the teachers or
lecturers can use it as the additional reading material in the classroom and the
students can use it as the additional resource to reading in classroom or
outside the classroom. The last, for the future researchers, this study can give
profit to investigating incidental vocabulary acquisition in reading with
different method or approach.
E. Variables of the study
There are two variables here those are independent variable and
dependent variable. Independent variable is an attribute or characteristic that
influences or affects an outcome or dependent variable.11 In experimental
research, the independent variable is the manipulated variable and the effect
of that manipulation is observed or measured on one or more dependent
variables.12 And dependent variable is an attribute or characteristic that is
dependent on or influenced by the independent variable.13 Thus, based on
seeing the title, from the variable side, it can be gotten that independent
variable in this study is reading online newspapers and dependent variable is
incidental vocabulary acquisition.
11
John W. Creswell. Educational Research: planning, conducting,and evaluating quantitative and qualitative reaearch. 2012. Pearson: New York. p. 116
12
Kathleen deMarrais and Staphen D. Lapan. Foundations for Research Methods of Inquiry and The Social Sciences. 2004. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers: London. p.332
13
F. Hypotheses of the study
Linking the independent and the dependent variable is a hypothesis. A
hypothesis is simply a conjecture or a hunch about the relationship between
two variables, usually limited to the independent and dependent variables.14
Hypotheses are statements in quantitative research in which the investigator
makes a prediction or a conjecture about the outcome of a relationship among
attributes or characteristics. Traditionally used in experiments, they serve,
like research questions, to narrow the purpose statement to specific
predictions.15 In experimental research, traditionally, there are two distinct
types of hypotheses: the null hypothesis (Ho) and the alternative hypothesis
(Ha). The alternative hypothesis is the one we want to be true, the null
hypothesis is the opposite.16 So, the researcher formulates the hypotheses in
this study are follow:
1. Alternative Hypotheses (Ha)
a) Ha1: There is significant effect of reading online newspapers
toward students’ vocabulary acquisition incidentally by the third
semester students at the English education study program of IAIN
Palangka Raya.
b) Ha2: The third semester students have positive attitudes at the
English education study program of IAIN Palangka Raya towards
14
Kathleen deMarrais and Staphen D. Lapan. Op. cit. P.333
15
John W. Creswell. Op.cit. p. 111
16
learning words incidentally to acquire vocabulary through reading
English texts and online newspapers.
2. Null Hypotheses (Ho)
a) Ho1: There is no significant effect of reading online newspaper
toward students’ vocabulary acquisition incidentally by the third
semester students at the English education study program of IAIN
Palangka Raya.
b) Ho2: The third semester students have negative attitudes at the
English education study program of IAIN Palangka Raya towards
learning words incidentally to acquire vocabulary through reading
English texts and online newspapers.
G. Operational Definition of Key Terms
To avoid misunderstanding of the concepts in this study, some
definitions are provided as below:
1. Incidental Vocabulary
Incidental is accompanying, but not a major part of something,
minor.17 Then, Vocabulary is the total number of words in a language.18
Thus, incidental vocabulary means that vocabulary is not a major part
which the students attain while reading.
17
A.S Hornby. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. 1995. Oxford University press: New York. p. 601
18
2. Vocabulary Acquisition
Vocabulary acquisition refers to the unconscious process that involves
vocabulary which acquired by learners during reading.
3. Incidental vocabulary acquisition
Incidental vocabulary acquisition means learners could acquire
vocabulary by paying their attention to other things, especially information
carried on by the language, and not to learn vocabulary technically.
4. Reading
Reading is a complex behavior decoding words, developing fluency,
and improving comprehension.19
3. Online Newspaper
Online newspaper is a regularly updated online publication containing
news articles and other content relating to current events.
H. Scope and Limitation of The Study
The study was focused on investigating the incidental vocabulary
acquisition through reading online newspapers. Specifically, to measure the
effect of reading online newspapers toward students’ vocabulary acquisition
incidentally by the third semester students at the English education study
program of IAIN Palangka Raya. Also, to investigate the students’ attitudes
towards learning words incidentally to acquire vocabulary through reading of
19
the third semester students at the English education study program of IAIN
Palangka Raya through reading English texts and online newspapers.
I. Assumption of The Study
1. The students can acquire vocabulary incidentally through reading online
newspaper. Therefore, the number of vocabulary which their gain can be
influenced by their level comprehension and the content of the text.
2. The students may access online newspaper because they able to access the
internet.
3. The students give positive attitude toward reading English texts and
reading online newspaper.
J. Framework of The Discussion
Framework of the discussion of the study as follows:
Chapter I : Introduction consists of background of the study,
problems of the study, objectives of the study,
significances of the study, operational definition of key
terms, scope and limitation of the study, assumption of
the study, and framework of the discussion.
Chapter II : Review of related literature consists of previous studies,
vocabulary (nature of vocabulary, kinds of vocabulary,
the importance of vocabulary, and vocabulary strategy),
reading (nature of reading and the importance of
reading), Newspaper (definition of newspaper, the
access to newspapers), incidental vocabulary acquisition.
Chapter III : Research method consists of research type, research
design, population and sample, time and place, research
instrument (instrument, research instrument reliability
and validity), data collection techniques, data collection
procedures, and data analysis.
Chapter IV : Finding and Discussion
